New Job with a Catchy Title

I am always leery of anything pedagogical that comes with its own set of buzz words. After more than two decades in education, I rest on a fulcrum between experienced and cynical, the balance tilting based on when I last had a cup of coffee. So, as I step into a new role filled with buzz, hype, and expectations I am aggressively searching for the foundational value this work can offer students and teachers. I don’t doubt that is there, I simply need to be able to focus on it as we frame the job ahead.
Innovation, Creativity, Maker Spaces, Design Thinking, those are big terms with broad open definitions. No teacher is going to reject the foundation of those concepts but they could dismiss them as nothing more than buzzwords if we cannot back them up with engaging and meaningful learning, especially if those ideas are presented before coffee.
With that in mind:
I am now an Innovation TOSA, our mission is to bring innovative and creative project-based learning into real classrooms in a way that makes it possible for classroom teachers to use those concepts, ideas, and formats on their own once we leave.
Think of it as a “Try it before you apply it” approach. We roll up full of hype, enthusiasm, and buzz and leave with you surprised at how valuable what we offered was.
The foundational value is this: Teaching people to innovated and create is important and something we should be doing